Regulating facilities that handle mixed waste in Washington State

In addition to providing oversight and permitting for cleanup at the U.S. Department of Energy's Hanford site, our Nuclear Waste Program provides oversight of the following sites: commercial low-level radioactive waste disposal facility subleased by US Ecology Washington, Inc.; French nuclear fuels fabricator Framatome (formerly AREVA NP Inc.); Columbia Generating Station nuclear energy facility; waste treatment facility Perma-Fix Northwest; and the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard.

US Ecology, Inc.

US Ecology, Inc., is a commercial low-level radioactive waste disposal facility located near the center of the Hanford site on 100 acres of federal land leased to the State of Washington. It has been in operation since 1965. The Washington Department of Health regulates current waste disposal activities at the facility. We are leading a Model Toxics Control Act study to investigate chemical releases from the facility and to recommend a remedial action to ensure that human health and the environment are protected.

Framatome (formerly AREVA NP Inc.)

AREVA NP, Inc. is a French-owned company in Richland, WA, that makes nuclear fuel assemblies for commercial nuclear reactors across the globe. It is operated under a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. We provide regulatory oversight for the temporary storage under a permit of mixed waste that results from its operations.

Columbia Generating Station

The Northwest’s only nuclear energy facility is owned and operated by Energy Northwest and is located on land leased at the Hanford site. We work with the Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council (EFSEC), a Washington state agency led by a chair appointed by the Governor, to oversee the nuclear power plant.

Perma-Fix Northwest

Perma-Fix Northwest is a waste treatment facility specializing in treating and packaging low-level and mixed low-level waste. Most of the waste they treat is from Hanford.

Puget Sound Naval Shipyard

We issued a permit for storage of mixed wastes at the Mixed Waste Storage Area at the US Navy's Puget Sound Naval Shipyard located in Bremerton, Washington.

For more information see our permit page.